U.S. stock futures sank Sunday evening, indicating that Monday would begin yet another brutal trading week on Wall Street as mounting coronavirus fears rippled across global markets.
As of 6:50 p.m. ET, Dow futures (YM=F) plunged 309 points, or 1.22%, while S&P futures (ES=F) tumbled 1.17% and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) dropped 1.10%.
Last week the rapid spread of coronavirus and lack of containment in countries outside of China rocked global markets, sending all three of the major indices fell into a correction in a matter of six days.
The Dow logged its worst week since early 2008, the S&P 500 Index plunged by over 11% into correction territory, while government bond yields have fallen to record lows. That contributed to nearly $7 trillion in market value being obliterated, according to S&P/Dow Jones’ Howard Silverblatt.
NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 28: Traders work on the floor of the New york Stock Exchange on February 28, 2020 in New York City. Markets continued their downward plunge Friday as continuing fears of a Coronavirus pandemic prompted a sell-off, making for the worst week on Wall Street since 2008. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
As of Sunday evening, there are more than 88,300 confirmed cases of coronavirus, formally known as COVID-19, and 3,000 confirmed deaths — and new cases in the U.S. are now starting to pile up.
Two health care workers in the San Francisco Bay Area tested positive for the virus after being exposed to an infected patient. Meanwhile, Rhode Island reported its first case, and Washington State confirmed two more cases Sunday. There are currently 75 people infected with the coronavirus in the U.S.
Wall Street is now banking on the Federal Reserve to come to the rescue with a series of rate cuts — a theme that will likely be reinforced amid a week chock-full of market-moving economic data, some of which may begin to hint at the havoc the COVID-19 virus is wreaking on the global economy.
“Under other conditions, the economic data in the week ahead would set the tone, but in the current environment, they play second fiddle to market positioning and anxiety around the Covid-19,” said Marc Chandler, managing director at Bannockburn Global Forex. He also noted that “ investors may be particularly sensitive to downward revisions as it may reflect the deterioration of conditions as new data was reported.”
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